Water Resources and Social-Economical
Development in China
Zhang Wei*

Liu Lin*

Chen Yinghui**Information and Electrical College, China Agri. Univ
No.17, Qinghua East Road, Beijing 100083, China
Phone: 86-010-62737629(off)86-010-82833299(H)Fax: 86-010-68748337
Zhwei888@263.net( TASAE 2006, TRUKUBA, JAPAN)
Sept. 30, 2006

ABSTRACTThe problems of water resources and water supply related nearly every countryof the world. China is one of 13 countries which face the most serious condition inwater resources shortages. The water resources must be saved, conserved and wellmanaged, then the water supply will be sustainable. When constructed the hydroengineering, the eco-systems interaction must be concerned. The cooperation,experiences and fund are the basic aspects for the water resources management.
Key Words: water resources

water supply

hydro-engineering

management

1 Background of Water Resources Problems in China
In 2006, there are some very important events about “water” in Chinese social andeconomical development :A fearful drought took place in Chongqing City, the most important city insouthwest of China, from July to September this year. The disaster began in the earlyof July, and was more serious on the late of August. The city, with 32 million
1populations, had to face the difficulties: the shortage of water supply for more than
2/3 towns and villages, more than half populations had not got enough drink water
temporarily. The directly expenses as the disaster nearly reached to US$800 million in
two months .
Chongqing is only one typical sample with the drought in the media head lines
this summer. In fact, there are about 400 cities, in 670 of the whole country, face thesame problems, more or less, of water supply. (4) According to the statistics, the nation
loses about US$25 billion in industries with the shortage of water supply each year. It
was about 1.2% of GDP of year 2004.
The 5th World Water Conference held in Beijing, in the 10th of September, 2006,organized by IWA (International Water Association) and Chinese Government. It is
the first time for China, even for Asia, to organize this World Water “summit”. In theconference, the Chinese supper leaders express: It is very important to construct thesociety which have got the characters of natural resources savings and friendly
relationship with environment. The water resources must be saved, conserved andwell managed, then the water supply will be sustainable. This showed us that, for thedeveloping country like China, the problems of water resources management andwater supply had been very critical.
These problems of water resources and water supply are not only for China, butalso for the whole world. According to the « World Water Resources Report»
published by the UN, March 13th of this year, the consumed water quantity had
increased 6 times in 20 century, but only doubled for the populations at the same time.

2There are nearly 1/5 populations (1.2 billion) at the present time in the world whohave not got the secure water supply for drinking. Only in 2002, there are more than 3
million people died with uncleanness water in the world. About 90% of them are thechildren who is younger than 5 years. The report predicted that more than 2/3
population of the world will live in the cities before 2030. Compared with that of2007’s, this rate will only be near to the HALF. It means that the water demand in thecities will magically increase. The critical problem is that the capacity of the watersupply we have can not match the need for the water with some limitation like thefinancial support. The report said that the key link is the effective management for thewater resource.
2 The Basic Conditions of Water Resources in China
Generally speaking, compared with the other countries, with the vast land andhuge populations, the water resources are very few in China. The fresh water China
owned are only about 7%, but they must support the whole Chinese people which arenearly 1/5 populations of the world.
In spatio-temporal, the water resources in China are inconsequence. It will bevery clear if we make the comparison like following. We choose 10 countries in 190
which have got the populations over 100 millions, compared some aspects of thecountry’s, like water resources and GDP, etc. From the table-1 we have known that,
although the total water resources, 2810×109 m3 , the third place, but the water
resources for per-person of China, is only 2200 m3 , just the same with 1/3 of theaverage level of the world’s. It is the 121st place of the 190 countries of the world.

3China is one of 13 countries which face the most serious condition in water resources
shortages. (3)(Table-1)
The other problem is that the water resources spread is disproportion in space.
The statistic showed us: in the north part of China, there are 62.2% of the land
areas, 41.7% of the populations, 41.44% of GDP of the whole nation every year, but
only 20.11% of the water resources. In the south part of the country, there are 80%ofthe water resources, but only 37.8% of the land area, 58.3% of the populations, and58.56% of GDP. Especially for the Huabei plain, it is the main political, economical
district of China. Beijing, the capital of the country located in the north of the plain. It
only owns 8.05% of the water resources, but 39.7% of the agricultural land of thewhole country. (5)(Table-2)
In the years and the seasons, there are very big differences of the rainfall andsnowfall, the water resources in different times all of the country. Monsoon weather isthe main reason and source of the water. Dry year by the wet year, dry season by thewet season. In south part of China, about 60% rainfall took place in summer time,from April to July. But in the north, nearly 80% to 90% of the rain concentrated in hot
season, from July to September. This so much rain falls in a short time , and 2/3 of therain often forms “flow” or flooding. It is the disaster, no sense for the water resources.
3The Problems in Water Resources Management
In the past 30 years, the average speed of the increase of GDP is about >8% inChina. It is clear that the industrialization and urbanization will strong impact thesocial and economical development of the country. And also, the demand for the water4

increases very fast. The water consumption like this: 103 billion m3 in 1949, 443.7
billion m3 in 1980, and 554.8 billion m3 in 2004. It is necessary to cultivate theunderground water to irrigate the farms. The agricultural production still decrease 35
million tons each year since the water shortages. Further more, there are more than
300 million people have not got enough fresh and clean water in the countryside.(4)With the over pumped water, the underground water level were far deeper than
before in a big areas. According to the reports, the underground water is lower 30m
than that of 40 years before in Beijing. This may lead the new disasters.( Figure-1)
The water quality is a serious problem also. One of the reasons for the waterpollution is the chemistry in the agricultural production. The chemistry, like N, often
used as fertilizer, nearly half part of them flow down and leak into the soil with
rainfall. The underground water may be polluted. According to the survey, the test
well, in Huabei plain, the content of NO3 ? in the underground water increased greatlyand reached to 233.33% in the past 25 year, from 42mg/l in 1982 to 140mg/l in 2005.
Although the agricultural land had been less than before after 2000, but the waterpollution trend is still continuous with some dimness reasons. (Figure-2, ChenYinghui, 2006)
4 Water Resource Management and Development Strategy
Water resource manageme nt is the core for the Chinese people living anddevelopment. The drought and flooding had impacted China deeply and for a longtime. And also, Chinese people have gained an abundant experiences in dealing withthe “water”.

5According to the historic book, we have known that Chinese had been fightingwith the big flooding and after that established the first dynasty “Xia” in Chinese
history about 5000 years ago.
On the Qin dynasty, about 200B.C., “Du Jiangyan” Hydro-Engineering wasconstructed. It is well known as the Great Magic Hydro-Engineering in the world
history. It was evaluated as: with the longest time and only one irrigation engineering
without any dam in the world history. (24th World Heritage Conference, UNESCO,Nov.,30, 2000 ) It can not be imagined that this system are still irrigating more than 1
million hectares agricultural land every year in China now.
“The Great Canal” is the longest manmade river in the world history. The
1782km long canal from Hangzhou to Beijing, in the east part of China, is about 22times compared with “Panama Canal”. It began at 486B.C., and finished in 1293A.C.
at last, nearly lasted for about 1800year. It used to played a very important role in
Chinese history as the food transfer channel from south to north. And eve n at thepresent time, “The Great Canal” is still to be used not only as the water way, but alsoas the tour-sites.
With the practices in the long history, Chinese have achieved a lot and formed amature concept and strategy for the water resources management. The main contents
are: dragged the rivers withstand the flooding; to dial with the water resources
spread disproportion in spatio-temporal through hydro-engineering, like Dams,reservoir; and further more, in modern times, formed a very important idea “watersupply sustainable”, through resolving the water pollution and saving the water in the6social and economical development.
Since 1950s, China had constructed 85 thousands reservoirs. The total capacities
for the water supply are about 500 billion m3 . And more than 1 millionhydro-engineering sites are constructed. China now have got the capacities of watersupply 580 billion m3 each year.
In the next 15 years, the country will finish some big hydro-engineering. After
that, the government may will have got enough water resources to serve the social andeconomical development.
5Discussions

1) In the developing countries like China, hydro engineering is payed more attention
to since the fast and clear benefits. But the hydro-engineering, dams, reservoirs, watertransfer buildings, etc., have their life time since the sand deposition and the otherreasons. So many hydro-engineering were constructed in a short time, we must think
about the problem of them, for example, the eco-systems interaction.
2) Compared with the engineering, for the water resources management, the newconcepts and experiences are more important. “sustainable water supply” is the key
link in the water management through resolving the water pollution and water savings.
Exchange ideas, sharing the experiences are not only benefited for the developing
countries, but also for the developed countries. “Thinking first, then actions ”
3) The problems of water resources and water supply not only related every countryof the world, and also to make all of the countries related from each other becausesome rivers flow on the different countries and “we only have one globe”. The7

cooperation, experiences and fund are the basic aspects for the water resourcesmanagement.
4) Policies may be the one of the most important factors for the water resourcesmanagement. The governments and non-governments have the same responsibilities
in this field because the driven power will push the water resources management
forward, and the POLICIES will organize the people, both of the officials and thecommon people earnest to resolve the problems in the water resources management.

REFERENCE
1? Liu Changming , 2001, Chen Zhikai. Assessment and Analysis of the Developing
trend of Water Resource of China, Beijing, China’s Hydrology and Electricity
Press ,2? Li Ling, Nov., 2005, Tibet water resources and Chinese development, China
Changan Press,
3? Ren Shifang, 2006, 06, The study on the crises of global water resources, WorldGeography Study, Beijing, vol.15, 2.
4? Wang Shucheng, 2006,08, The key link for resolving the water resources
shortages in China, China Countryside Water Resources and Electricity
5? Ma Youcheng, 2006, 06, The study on the water resources and agricultural
Sustainable development, China Environment Management, Beijing
6? Wang Yisen, 2005,07, The S-N water transfer engineering, Yangtse River Study
7? Li Yongan, March, 2004, Study on the hydro dams and the social development,

8

Journal of Chinese Three Gorges Construction
8? Mahmoud A. Abu- Zeid, Sept.,1998, Water and sustainable development: thevision for world water, life and the environment, Water Policy
9? China to invest billions of yuan in water pollution control project, China Yellow
River Conservancy Commission, Aug.,21,2006
10?

Severe drought sounds alarm for China's water supply, Xinhuanet, Aug., 28,

2006
11?

Water Resources Assessment for China, China Ministry of Hydrology

and Electricity, Dec.,1987
12?

Song Xiansong, July, 2005, The analysis for the water command and supply
since the disproportion of China, Drought Study, Beijing

Figure-1 Underground Water Level Changes (1959~1999) (6)9NO3 ? Changes in the Underground water

Figure-2

Table-1 Comparison of WR in 10 Countries(3)Country

Population(108 )

China
Pakistan
BengalJapan
India
Indonesia
Nigeria
RussiaBrasil
US? ?

12.76
1.41
1.29
1.27
1.28
1.29
1.2
1.44
1.7
2.83
36.2

W-R
W-R
( 109 m3 /year) (m3 /pers)
2800
429.4
1357
547
2085
2530
280
4498
6950
2478
23954.4

2194
3045
10519
4307
2044
12048
2333
31236
40882
8756
6617

(Note: populations data based on the survey of 2004)

Table-2 Distribution of water resources, arable lands and GDP
in the different regions of China(12)DistrictWR
12

Population
38

WR-pp
3

Agri-land

-1

7

3

GDP-US$(10 m )

(10 )(m .pers )(10 hm )(1011)

wholecountry

2.81

12.85

2189.4

13.00

10.48

N-part

NE

0.15

1.07

1427.0

2.15

1.16

N-1

0.17

3.35

502.5

3.63

3.19

NW

0.22

0.93

2410.3

1.61

0.55

SE

1.28

2.50

5092.8

2.09

1.29

SW

0.93

4.90

1891.3

3.08

5.62

S-part10